Thursday, January 24, 2008

Peabody and Tartelette have told us that it's time to make doughnuts - and I'm delighted to introduce you kohupiimapontšikud aka Estonian curd cheese doughnuts. Kohupiimapontšikud is something every Estonian kid is familiar with - a real, honest comfort food - and there are plenty of adults who have hard time resisting these as well. We know they're not the dessert for calorie-counting and health-conscious modern girls, but every now and then we indulge in them after all.

I made these old-time favourites about a fortnight ago, and although I had planned to eat a couple for a few days there was none left by the dinner time. Granted, my friend Liis and her 18-month old daughter Matilda helped me a lot by eagerly popping by for an afternoon cup of tea and some doughnuts, but K. surprised me by eating all but one when I left the dining room for a few moments later that night ;-) I'm not surprised, however, as these were so soft, so tender, so tasty, so, well, yummy..

Hope you'll make these. You can find curd cheese from Russian and Polish shops or try quark/kvark or ricotta cheese or farmer's cheese instead. And check back with Peabody and Tartelette after February 12th to see all the other doughnut entries!

Using a wooden spoon, mix the curd cheese and eggs until combined. Mix the flour, salt and baking soda, fold into the cream cheese mixture.
Heat about 3-4 cm of oil in a small heavy saucepan until hot.
Take two tablespoons - use one to take a spoonful of dough, the other to 'round up' and push the dough into the hot oil.
Cook for 1-2 minutes, until golden brown, then using a slotted spoon, flip the doughnut over and cook the other side. (The doughnuts will puff up nicely because of the baking soda).
Remove from the oil and place on a sheet of kitchen paper, so drain the extra oil.
Sprinkle with plenty of icing sugar before serving.
The doughnuts are best when still warm, but lukewarm is fine, too.

Pille ~ I'm in some "round fried food" phase, for earlier today I was thinking of preparing risotto just so I could make arancini. Now, I think I'll go to the Eastern European deli I know of on the city fringe to see if they have this cheese. If not, ricotta is easy enough to find.

I have been very careless with my diet and yoga (lack of consistency) for months now. I must get back on track...but after I've had some of your curd cheese doughnuts.

K. sounds a bit like my Eric..."ate all but one"...a master of restraint, I see. :-)

These look yummy! And they made me think about the doughnuts my mum used to make when I was little. :) I myself am a little afraid of deep frying with oil, though...And thank you Pille for visiting my blog!

Dancing Doughnuts! I never had doughnuts roll themselves over and over in the oil. I use an electric wok as a fryer, at 375 with about 2 inches (5 cm?) of oil. All I had to do was wait until they looked done to pull them out. Delish! Hubby said he could eat them as quickly as I could fry them. I'm glad your recipe is small.

I added the rasp grated rind of a lemon, and about 2tsp of Splenda with sugar for baking to the dough.

First of all, these look amazing and I wish I could will them through my computer screen to my plate right now. But second, I have a recipe that involves curd cheese and have been trying to figure out for weeks where to get it. Russian store! My husband is Russian, why didn't I think of this sooner? Worse, why didn't he? Alas, thank you, thank you!

Pille, I don't have a blog (yet), but you definitely got me thinking about that. Ok, I'm all for it! :D My first post will be about those "intriguing" doughnuts and I'll let you know when it will be online.

Annemarie – no gooey here – the curd cheese is incorporated into the dough and actually makes the doughnuts really soft and fluffy!

Brilynn – well, just use a small pan and keep the lid nearby (and don’t get the oil too hot!)

Mel – enjoy!

Linn – I certainly indulged on them a lot :)

Shaun – you’re so sweet – making risotto just so you could make arancini (but then you’re arancini recipe is excellent!). A master of restraint indeed :)

The Phantom Chef – good!

Roxy – how do you call them in Romanian anyway?

Cinnamonda – deep frying with oil isn’t so scary after all – it’s just that it uses a lot of oil that you need to discard afterwards..

Susan – but you’ve certainly had ricotta balls before? These would be very similar..

White On Rice Couple – it’d make a great party snack – just provide the napkins!

Dagmar – tack!

Aforkfulofspaghetti – I hope you’ll like them!

Anon. – well, that wasn’t supposed to happen, but I swear, every now and then they rolled themselves over on their own!? Must be some logical explanation that (I was hope alone, for sure:)

Deb – did you manage to find curd cheese from the Russian shop? (An Edinburgh-based Estonian friend called me the other day to ask how to replace the curd cheese there. I told her to go to a Polish shop – there are many, many in Edinburgh – and she said that she had never thought of that. And her boyfriend is Polish!?!)